Ludhiana, February 15
Allotment of tenders for road projects in the city worth crores by the local municipal corporation has come under scanner with the allegations surfacing that a few companies were allotted these without fulfilling any conditions.

At lest 173 tenders worth Rs 25 crore were called and opened on February 13. Out of these, tenders worth Rs 12 crore were pertaining to roads. The corporation had allotted these to a few companies and some of them did not fulfill the condition of a functional hot-mix plant.

Corporation sources said a functional hot-mix plant was a condition that a contractor was required to fulfill before he was allotted tenders for strengthening and recarpeting of roads.

But in these cases a contractor, who was allotted a tender of roads is yet to start its hot-mix plant and the other one is yet to set it up.

The sources said the deadline of recarpeting a road varies between two to three months. And setting a hot-mix plant also requires this much time. ‘‘What if the hot- mix plant does not become operational within that period? Will they give it to someone else? And why should they flout the conditions themselves? There are some contractors who have the hot-mix plants functional. They should have been given the tenders. ’’ the sources said.

They added that there were several procedures that were to be followed while setting up a hot-mix plant. There were several departments that need to give an NOC for setting up a plant that was considered a polluting unit.

The sources said the procedure of the corporation for grading the companies was also not transparent. Nobody was clear how the companies were graded as A class, B class and so on. There were a few companies who were enlisted in the A category and some of them were listed in the other categories. The A class companies were preferred over others while allotting the tenders.

Ludhiana, February 15
Meet the steel man, Harpal Binda, who has so far eaten well over 1,900 steel glasses and is still wants more. A 26- year- old resident of Kot Chappa village located in Barnala district, Binda has been eating steel glasses for the past six years and can be seen frequenting rural sports festivals.

What actually started as a hobby is now main source of bread and butter. A son of the daily wager, Binda has a huge responsibility on his shoulder as he is married and a father of three children.

A graduate from SD College, Barnala, he was forced to make earning out of his hobby as he was unemployed. “Despite, being a graduate I am jobless. Except, my family I have look after two younger brothers and mentally-challenged sister. By performing this feat in rural festivals I earn good money which enables me to look after my family,” Binda said.

He rued that perhaps he too could not have suffered from financial constraints had he been enjoying the luxuries like his friends, most of whom are in the police job.

Ludhiana, February 15
The hike in fuel rates has been condemned by city residents and transporters with the latter threatening to launch a stir if the government did not order a rollback.

The petrol now is priced at Rs 49.98 per litre and diesel Rs 31.34 per litre. "The increase is a blow to the common man and if the government does not withdraw it within a few days, we will launch an agitation," warned Charanjit Singh Lohara, president of All-India Motor Transport Congress. The residents said the hike would lead to
inflation.

The government must ensure a strong public transport
network. — Residents

"Whenever there is an increase in fuel prices, rates of other commodities go up. It is becoming increasingly tough to manage our budgets," said Satnam Singh of Kakowal Road.

"On the one hand the country is taking
a

leap into making cars like Nano that can be afforded by most and on the other there fuel rates have been hiked making matters worse for the common man. “To tackle the situation, the government should ensure a strong public transport network,” said Dr Mukhtinder Singh of Dugri.

Petroleum dealers, however, said the hike was unavoidable “A hike was expected for the last almost two months. The good thing is that we expected an increase of Rs 4 but the petroleum minister announced a rise of Rs 2,” said Ashok Sachdeva, general secretary, Ludhiana Petroleum Dealers Association.

Ludhiana, February 15
With a huge cache of arms seized from criminals and terrorists missing from police stations, especially a few AK 47 riffles for the past two decades, the city police has started searching all police station “malkhanas” and its records.

Sources reveal that a DSP-rank official is scanning and comparing the records of the weapons seized to find out how many were missing and were issued under whose name. He would also conduct physical verification of the existing stock.

The police was specially looking for the weapons that were seized from the terrorists and later issued to cops, home guards and members of the now defunct village defense committees.

The sources said three AK-47 rifles besides seven other rifles and pistols were first reported missing from the Sarabha Nagar police station in 2001. The police had conducted a probe, but the AK-47 rifles could not be traced.

One theory about the missing weapons was that these were issued to police personnel guarding important persons. They have not returned these weapons till date. Another theory was that the weapons might have been issued to members of the village defense committees formed during terrorism days.

Ludhiana, February 15
The Dakha police has booked 14 persons, including an area in charge of liquor vends belonging to the Chadda-Chabra group, for scripting a fraud worth Rs 4.75 lakh.

The accused had allegedly collected the cash from a few liquor vends as per the duty assigned to him, but did not deposit the amount with the owner. Later, it was found that huge stack of wine bottles was also missing.

Mandi Ahmedgarh,
February 15
While the prices of all commodities and services have been increasing for the past few decades, rents of shops owned by panchayat samiti, Sadhar, that were auctioned by authorities of the block development office today experienced a significant fall.

Residents of the area, while accusing the authorities of allotting shops to illegal owners, have demanded an enquiry into the sequence of events leading to loss to the organisation.

DDPO, Ludhiana, J.P. Singh, showing ignorance about the illegal possession of a few shops claimed that the auction was held in the presence of public and the highest bidders were allotted the shops. However, irregularity if any would be probed, he claimed.

Investigations by The Tribune revealed that the auction of 13 out of 32 shops situated at Adda Jangpur on the Raekot-Mullanpur road was organised on the spot today. Naib tehsildar Karamjit Singh supervised the auction that was conducted by the BDO, Sadhar.

It revealed further that some shops which were yet to be auctioned were already in the possession of a few entrepreneurs. As these shops did not suit any other aspirant, only illegal owners came to bid for the shops. So much so one of the shops could not be auctioned as there was no one to hire it.

Rents of these shops also experienced a significant fall in comparison to those auctioned years ago. Presently tenants have been paying rent between Rs 1,100 and 1,300 per month, the authorities instead of increasing the base price by stipulated percentage, kept it at Rs 771. The auction allegedly being a friendly match, highest rent for one of the shops was quoted as Rs 820 per month only.

Though the shops to be auctioned should have been vacant at the time of auction, observations revealed that at least eight shops out of the earmarked ones were in possession of individuals who had been running business from here since long.

Ludhiana, February 15
Dr Prahlad Singh, associate professor at the department of animal reproduction, gynaecology and obstetrics, GADVASU, was awarded for his paper at the ‘SAARC Congress on canine practice and fifth convention of the Indian Society for Advancement of Canine Practice’ held at Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, from February 7 to 9. Others who attended the convention included

Dr Sidhu chaired the canine reproduction session and presented the lead paper on management of canine infertility. Dr Verma presented the paper on vaccination and deworming status of dogs. Dr. Prahlad Singh presented a research paper titled ‘Effect of Vincrystine Sulphate on Liver and Kidney Function in Transmissible Venereal Tumour Affected Dogs’ and it was adjudged the ‘best scientific presentation’ in the session on canine applied subjects. The paper was co-authored by Dr V.K. Singla, H.K. Verma, V.K. Gandotra, R Kasrija and S.S. Sidhu from this institution.

Ludhiana, February 15
Public sector and foreign banks would observe a two-day strike on February 25 and 26 in protest against non-fulfilment of their demands by the government and the Indian Banks Association.

"Despite the strike on January 25, the government and IBA have not met our demands following which we have decided to go ahead with two days continuous strike on February 25 and 26," said Naresh Gaur, secretary, Punjab Bank Employees Federation.

CRIME

Mystery over cop’s death
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 15
Mystery shrouds the death of a Punjab police head constable whose mutilated body was found from the railway track near Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib today afternoon.

Police said Gurmeet Lal, the cop, was upset for the past few days after a police officer blocked him from being posted with the city traffic wing. In sheer
desperation, he allegedly jumped before a train. The Railway police said they were still probing whether Gurmeet had committed suicide.

EDUCATION

Principal awarded ‘Vidya Saraswati Puruskar’
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 15
Dr H.S. Brar, principal of G.H.G. Khalsa College of Education, Gurusar Sadhar, has been awarded the ‘Vidya Saraswati Puruskar’ for his outstanding achievements in the field of education. Brar was among the two college principals selected from Punjab for this prestigious award. The award was presented in an exclusive ceremony held at New Delhi.

Brar has been serving at G.H.G. Khalsa College of Education for the last 27 years and is a member of the Board of Studies in Education and faculty of Education and Academic council of Panjab University, Chandigarh. He has recently been elected as joint secretary of the All India Association for Educational Research, which conducts national and international seminars to develop research in teacher education. The college management and faculty members congratulated Dr Brar for this achievement.

Meanwhile, the college acted as a host for a team of educationists from Britain. This visit was organised under the ‘Indo British Teachers Exchange Programme’ facilitated by Heritage, Mohali, in collaboration with department for education and skills, U.K, the Common Wealth Council and some county councils of UK.

The team is on a one-week tour to India during which they will visit different schools in Punjab to study gifted and talented students. The purpose of this educational exchange programme is to develop a number of long-term projects and to study the educational system of the respective countries.

Ludhiana, February 15
Eperium Business Solutions India, an off-shoot of the Netherlands-based information technology corporate sector, visited the College of Agricultural Engineering, PAU, for conducting campus interviews for selecting B.Tech and M.Tech students, here yesterday. Eperium picked four candidates for being placed as software engineers into its core team.

According to V.K. Sehgal, dean, College of Agricultural Engineering, it is for the first time that a reputed IT-based company has visited the university for recruiting people. He added that a panel of company executives conducted a day- long recruitment drive. Four students, Rohit Batta, Megha Sahni, Pragya Johri and Navteh Singh were selected. Company representative disclosed that those selected will be trained by corporate trainers in the Netherlands. Dr Manjit Singh Kang, vice-chancellor, PAU, conveyed his best wishes to those selected for the IT jobs.

Sehgal presented the profiles of the candidates to the visiting team and elaborated the role of agricultural engineers in today’s era of IT and software solutions in global economy. He also lauded the training and placement committee of the PAU College of Agricultural Engineering for their initiative towards seeking better placements. Dr P.P.S. Lubana, Dr Ashok Kumar and Vishal Bector said the TAFE, Kirloskar, Mahindra & Mahindra, New Holland Tractors, John Deere, Claas India, Punjab Tractors Limited, International Tractors, Fieldfresh etc. were the regular visitors for conducting on campus interviews well before the completion of their degree programme.

From Schools
Seminar and poster-making competition
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 15
A seminar and poster-making competition on the topic ‘Adolescence Education and AIDS Awareness’ was held in Government Senior Secondary School for girls at Gill village, here today.

According to school principal Surinder Pal Kaur, around 20 students from different classes and staff members participated in poster making competition. Kajal of class XI, Gagandeep of IX and Navjot Kaur of class eight were adjudged Ist, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Satinder Kaur, Kanwaljit Kaur, Sukhraj Kaur, Sunita Saini, Navneet Sharma and Vandna, all school teachers, delivered lectures on the occasion. A special 'question box' programme was also organised during which students wrote their questions and school science mistress Satinder Kaur answered them. Importance of red ribbon logo and red ribbon club was also explained to students. Students can get their adolescence related queries answered at the red ribbon club and their names are always kept
a secret. Contest held: A competition on adolescence education was organised at the Government High School, Salem Tabri, here today. The opening ceremony was conducted by Headmaster Ranjit Singh. A
poster-making competition was also organised which was judged by Sukhdev Singh and Ashok Kumar.

Around 40 students participated in this competition. The headmaster distributed prizes to the winners and highlighted the importance of adolescence education. Sukhdev Singh also spoke on the
occasion.

Ludhiana, February 15
In a recent survey of business schools conducted by the Business World magazine, Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE) has been ranked 12th among the top B-Schools in India on the basis of learning experience.

Business World has conducted this survey in association with GFK Mode, a research agency at New Delhi. The facility audit methodology has been used for rating. Learning experience was one of the key parameters of the survey. Others included learning environment for students, faculty development initiatives, modern and effective teaching techniques being used by faculty in the classrooms, practical learning opportunity for students, state-of-the art infrastructural availability etc.

Dr. K.N.S. Kang, director of PCTE said the institution has more than 30 foreign students from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda pursuing various courses and 100% placement opportunities are available to students here.

Ludhiana, February 15
A two-day seminar on “Media and rural development - challenges and opportunities” will be organised by the department of agricultural journalism, languages and culture, PAU, on February 18 and 19.

The seminar is dedicated to Dr M.S. Randhawa, who started master’s programme in journalism at the university. Editor-in-chief of The Tribune H.K. Dua will be the chief guest and vice chancellor Dr M.S. Kang will preside over the function.

The orders were pronounced while deciding on the complaint of Vijay Jain of Sarabha Nagar. The latter alleged that he had advanced a loan of Rs 3 lakh to the businessman through an account payee cheque on June 26, 1999, which was encashed
by him.

Later, the businessman issued him a cheque of Rs 3 lakh for March 20, 2003. When he presented the cheque to his bank for clearance, the same was returned because of “insufficient funds.”

Despite a legal notice calling upon him to make the payment, Sukhwinder Singh failed to do so. In another case filed by Pranay Jain, the accused was sentenced to imprisonment for a year in a cheque bounce case of Rs 2 lakh.

SPORTS

KCW Athletics Meet

Mandeep dominates track
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, February 15
Mandeep Kaur, a student of BA II, proved her supremacy over opponents by bagging four titles out of the seven that were at stake on the opening day of the 47th annual athletics meet of Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, here yesterday.

She clinched top honours in 50m sprint, 2,00m, 400m and 800m races to stamp her authority.

Khalsa said sports were an essential ingredient for channeling the energy of the youth to face challenges ahead of them.

He said sports and cultural activities improved discipline.

Khalsa added that the technical education system in the state would be completely revamped to make it relevant to the needs of the advancing technology in the industrial sector, so that the trained youth in the technical institutions could capture their share from the job opportunities created at the global level.

He said it was the right time to review the technical training programme in consultation with corporate sectors.

He exhorted girls to acquire excellence in their respective fields so that they could compete with their counterparts from all over the world.

College principal Dr Varinder Kaur Thind, besides members of the management committee, faculty and students welcomed the chief guest.

He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the college.

White pigeons and colourful baloons were released to mark the opening of the meet.

Ludhiana, February 15
Last year's runners-up JCT Phagwara will slug it out with Mohun Bagan, Kolkata, in the penultimate tie of the ongoing ONGC-I Football League match to be played at Guru Nanak Stadium here tomorrow.

At the end of the 16th round, JCT with eight wins, two losses and five draws have gathered 29 points and are placed third while Mohun Bagan are a close fourth with 28 points.